Local Mandali Programs

SATYA Marketing 

Local Mandali Programs help teachers support and expand their communities through “grassroots marketing.”  This is how most people find their way to Svaroopa^® yoga, through friends and recommendations.

By creating these programs for your students, you support their relationship with you.  Also very important, you build their relationships with each other as well as deepen their understanding of what their yoga means to them.

You are welcome to mix up the months if you prefer, or even to use a program from a prior year.  It's all about what works for you and your students. 

Thank you to Lissa (Yogyananda) Fountain, Cayla (Mangala) Allen and Caroline (Nitya) Kutil for creating these wonderful plans in collaboration with Gurudevi Nirmalananda!

2024 Local Mandali Events

January — Make Your Bedtime Consistent

One of the first steps in “yogifying” your life is getting to bed at the same time every night.

You’ll be amazed at the results. Your life becomes more joyful and productive with this simple practice. Ayurveda, Yoga’s sister science, suggests a bedtime no later than 10 pm!

Benjamin Franklin said it perfectly: “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise!”

Have your students take the “consistent bedtime pledge.” Have them promise to go to bed at the same time every night, and report on the results. Encourage them by letting them know it’s about progress, not perfection.

— inspired by A Yogic Lifestyle by Swami Nirmalananda

February — The Yoga of Yes

Whenever you are unhappy, it’s your mind messing with you.

It’s your inner objections, not the event itself, that is causing your discomfort. Yoga says you can track your knee jerk reactions all the way into your tailbone!

To help you embrace life more fully, just say “Yes!” Repeat this practical mantra on the inside, all day long, even when you’re feeling happy. This doesn’t mean you have to agree with what’s happening.

Your inner yes means you accept the situation as it is, but you still have the power of free will. — Gurudevi Nirmalananda, Embracing Life Fully, November 2004 Teachings Article.

By saying “yes,” again and again, you are doing yoga with your mind.

Suggest your students cut out a paper heart with “Yes” decorated on it. Or make many of them and post them around the house. This will help you remain centered in the midst of life. Posting it in their house will help them remember their own Self in the midst of life.

March — Sit and Stay in Sukasana

Your ability to sit gives you access to the deeper dimensions within.

This month, help your students explore sitting in Sukhasana. Review propping, alignments, and the many benefits of this pose.

Asana means to be able to relax into an easy, upright seated pose. — Gurudevi Nirmalananda, The Ultimate Pose, May 2018 Teachings Article

Use Sukhasana as a Marker Pose. Ask students to notice the difference before and after doing other poses. For example, notice how Sukhasana feels before and after Seated Side Stretch or even after doing their first side.

In addition to the physical benefits, Sukhasana soothes and stabilizes your mind, preparing it for meditation. Encourage your students to practice this pose at home. Ask them to report on their experience of sitting in Sukhasana. Is it easy, is it sweet?

April — Make Friends with Your Abs!

This month, increase your students’ awareness of their abdominals. Have them “make friends” with their abs, by knowing how to use them.

Bringing your abs in has an immediate effect on your mind and spirit. Activating your abs decompresses your spine. You become stronger. You feel friendlier towards yourself and others.

Encourage them to add an Abdominal pose to their daily practice and to notice their abs in everyday activities.

Add an Abdominal Activator pose to each of your lesson plans for the month. It works especially well with Backbends, Standing Poses, and even Daily Practice. Have them notice if they are also seeing improvement in their digestion, clarity, decision making or overall energy.

To stay committed, suggest they keep track of their Abs practice by keeping a daily chart. Ask for their report at the beginning of each class. Their sharing will support one another. Be sure to encourage them with enthusiasm!

May — Invite a Friend to Yoga

As a teacher you have been inspired to share the gift of Svaroopa^® yoga. This month inspire your students to share this gift with their friends.

They know how wonderfully uplifted and peaceful they feel at the end of their class. Have them invite a friend to join them in this experience.

Their friend participates for free. Sharing the yoga they love is a heartfelt gift indeed.

— Carolyn (Karuna) Beaver and Marlene (Matrikaa) Gast doing Hasta Padasana together

June — Tailbone Awareness Month

You’ve heard it said, many times before, “It all begins at your tailbone.” Focus this month on Prasarita Padottanasana (Slow Motion Dive in the chair).

This is a pivotal tailbone pose you can do anywhere at any time. It lengthens your spine from your sitbones to your sacrum and into your waist area. Gravity’s gentle pull releases tensions through your neck and shoulders as well.

Slow Motion Dive calms and quiets your mind. It relieves anxiety and gives you an attitude of yogic acceptance and surrender. You can even add an extra tailbone pose in your lesson plans. Challenge your students to do at least one Slow Motion Dive a day in their daily practice. Have them share what they are getting from this pose. Emphasize how important the tailbone release is!

— Swami Prajñananda in SloMo stage1 & stage 2

July — Quick Fix: The Pause that Refreshes

A quick fix is something you do to improve your state. It’s a quick and effective way to come to a full stop and connect inside. This month’s practice is to notice the pause between the natural movements of your breath.

Something magical happens in the pause. That magical, mystical moment of complete stillness is completely rejuvenating. It refills and restores you in just a few moments. You can gently extend into the pause, relaxing into it without “holding” your breath.

Leave the inside of your throat open and soft, yet letting your breath move whenever it’s ready. In that few seconds of sweet suspension, you hover in the threshold between inside and outside, a needed and refreshing change. — Gurudevi Nirmalananda, The Inner Threshold, May 2019 Teachings Article

Each week, coach your students on how to find the natural pause. They should be seated comfortably. Caution them to leave their throat soft! And have them report on how this practice is working for them.

August — Freedom to Choose

Yoga describes the mind as a shapeshifter, morphing into the shape of whatever it focuses on. The quality of your mind affects how you think and act.

This month, ask students to reflect on their daily activities, especially leisure ones. What are they watching, listening to, and reading? How do these activities affect their mind and the way they feel?

This simple awareness is very freeing. Knowing you have a choice gives you the freedom to evaluate your choices and even to choose differently. Ask students to report on what they are finding from this awareness.

September — Find Your Feet

Your feet are the farthest thing from your brain. No wonder it’s easy to forget to truly stand in them!

When you are standing, notice if your feet are truly planted, front-to-back and side-to-side. Being solidly on the floor while leaning your weight into your feet is very grounding.

This month, include Tadasana or other standing or balance poses in your lesson plans. Emphasize proper alignment through their legs and feet. Ask your students to become more aware of “being in their feet” in daily life, and what that does for them.

They can even notice how grounding it is to plant both their feet on the floor while sitting in a chair!

October — Vegetarian Recipe Exchange

Help your students live healthier by asking them to share a vegetarian recipe and cook a vegetarian meal.

Say a few words about the health benefits of a vegetarian diet, now even recommended by the FDS. You can also mention the benefits of eating vegetarian meals for our planet, the reduction of greenhouse gases and requiring fewer natural resources, like land and water.

Ask students to send you one or two of their favorite vegetarian recipes early in the month. By mid-month, send all the recipes you’ve collected to everyone and ask them to pick one to prepare later in the month.

Even if they are not vegetarian, they can still savor the variety, flavor, and health benefits of a vegetarian dish whenever they like!— Tofu in Curried Peanut Sauce, see recipe in #AshramEats on Svaroopa^® Vidya Ashram Facebook page.

November — Generosity is a Yogic Quality

Encourage your students to explore the selfless act of generosity.

Generosity has a tremendous effect on your body and mind. True generosity opens your heart and quiets your mind. The principles behind generosity are profound; the science of giving is a spiritual science. — Gurudevi Nirmalananda, Generosity & Abundance, July-August 2006 Teachings Article

Perhaps they would like to participate in a group project. Or they may choose to donate money or volunteer time to their favorite charity.

Track their acts of generosity on a graph or other visual display so week-by-week they have a visual representation of their generosity.

December — You Are the Light You See

During this season of celebration and activity, encourage your students to remember and to experience the light within.

Suggest they light a candle or put up a string of lights and sit in a comfortable, well-supported position for 5 – 10 minutes or more each day. They are settling inside to find the still, spacious state of Beingness-Itself, just under all the activity.

Ask them to report on their experience. They can also send a photo of their special light!

Share Gurudevi’s quote to inspire them

At year-end, we love to decorate and celebrate with light. Each flickering flame, every spark and glow draws your gaze, precisely because you are made of the light you see. You are the light of Consciousness, that which has become everything and is being everything, right now. — Gurudevi Nirmalananda, You Are the Light You Celebrate, December 2017 Teachings Article